With the support of UNESCO, and more than 20 ministries, Operators, and Industry Partners 22 National Final Teams from 11 Middle Eastern & Central Asian Countries Compete for the Regional Final of Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024
Naveed Ahmad Khan
Islamabad:The Regional Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024 Middle East & Central Asia is scheduled to kick off in the Kingdom of Bahrain in partnership with Bahrain Polytechnic and the University of Bahrain, from December 19-21, 2023. The event will bring together exceptional young talents from across the region, inspiring them to embrace digital technology and become future industry leaders in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, hence bridging the digital gap and paving the way for vibrant digital economies in their countries. The seventh edition of Huawei’s long-standing flagship ICT talent development initiative will witness 22 teams from 11 Middle Eastern & Central Asian countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman. Since its launch in 2017, Huawei’s ME & CA ICT Competition has become the largest and most influential initiative in the region, a powerful program for cultivating ICT talent and improving ME & CA countries’ national competitiveness with ICT future leaders. More than 100,000 college students have signed up for the first six competitions. Shunli Wang, Vice President of Huawei Middle East & Central Asia, said: “ICT talents form the crucial backbone of Middle East and Central Asia’s digital economy and Huawei is dedicated to providing students with a platform for knowledge transfer, healthy competition, and exchange of innovative ideas, focusing on enhancing their ICT knowledge and practical skills. The Huawei ICT Competition underlines our commitment to nurturing young minds across the region while being a focal platform that brings together visionary government leaders, forward-thinking academia, and enthusiastic students.” The Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024 Middle East & Central Asia chapter kicked off in August this year and covered 21 countries in the region. With the support of UNESCO, and more than 20 ministries, operators, and industry partners, Huawei has attracted more than 27,500 students from over 600 universities across the region. This year’s edition has achieved the highest level of participation ever in the competition’s history. The 2022-2023 regional edition featured 15 teams shortlisted from an initial list of 19,300 participants representing 472 universities and 11 countries across the Middle East and Central Asia. The regional final of the Huawei ICT Competition is a culmination of four-month-long intense national-level contests that took place across 11 markets. 66 students and 20 tutors, divided into 22 teams, emerged victorious and will now battle it out in Bahrain to be crowned ME & CA winners and proceed to the global finals that will take place in May 2024 in China. Each team comprises of three students and one tutor. Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Saudi have three teams each, while Jordan, Kazakhstan, and Bahrain have two teams each. One team is participating from the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait each. The 7th edition now features two more tracks for Cloud and Computing, which provides students with a wider platform to display professional skills. Students will participate in the Practice Competition that includes the Network, Cloud, and Computing Tracks. The competition will examine students’ theoretical knowledge and hands-on ICT skills, as well as their ability to work in a team. Participants will be ranked according to their scores for lab exams. The Opening Ceremony of the regional final of the 2023-2024 edition of the Huawei ICT Competition Middle East & Central Asia (ME & CA) will take place on December 19, 2023, at Bahrain Polytechnic. The students will participate in a written and practical exam on the campus, while the professors from universities across the region will join the Instructor Summit. The Closing and Awarding Ceremony will be held on December 21, 2023, at the University of Bahrain. A panel discussion featuring regional ICT leaders on the topic “Building the ICT talent ecosystem” will be held during the event as well. The Huawei ICT Competition is targeted at working with UNESCO, government authorities, colleges and universities in the Middle East & Central Asia to identify, support and grow the future leaders of ICT. The program attempts to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace, thus enhancing students’ future employment opportunities in the ICT sector through knowledge sharing on the latest ICT developments, international trends, and hands-on skills development training at Huawei’s state-of-the-art labs, R&D centers and facilities.Huawei promotes innovation and creativity among Middle East & Central Asia ICT students as they compete to win the national and regional finals and then the coveted International finals in Shenzhen.
